After a pair of preseason games against the same opponent, the Philadelphia 76ers faced off against the Brooklyn Nets in the Barclays Center. With the Phillies again drawing eyeballs away from them, the Sixers built a big lead and held on, winning by a score of 127-119.

Joel Embiid was out, despite an expectation that he would play, because he was feeling under the weather, per Nick Nurse. The Sixers were also without James Harden, Danuel House Jr. and Furkan Korkmaz and made a change to the starting lineup by swapping Patrick Beverley with De'Anthony Melton. P.J. Tucker was a late scratch due to right ankle soreness and Kelly Oubre Jr. started in his place. The Nets didn’t have Mikal Bridges or Cam Johnson.

Let's dive into takeaways from the Sixers-Nets clash.

5. Sixers out-space-and-pace the Nets

Before tip-off, Nurse talked about the speed at which the Nets play and the challenge of defending without getting able to set up properly. The coaching staff is split on how well the Sixers' defense transition defense has been, making tonight's game a litmus test.

The Sixers made sure they communicated every fast break, pointing to who they would get and/or who a teammate needed to pick up, though they started to lose it a little bit in the second half, allowing Brooklyn to get cracks at open threes. They ran back on defense rather than jog, as one might be tempted to do in an exhibition game. The Nets' abundant turnovers prevented them from running out as much as they would have liked but every time they did, they had to account for the defenders hot on their tail.

Philly left some fast breaks empty thanks to some missed shots and poor decisions. Nonetheless, Nurse's team played at the break-neck pace he wanted to prevent the opponent from doing. The Sixers outshot the Nets by 23 through three quarters. Brooklyn didn’t go away, though, and cut a 22-point deficit down to seven with plenty of time left. Both teams emptied their benches before the starters (in this one) had the chance to finish it out.

Another focal point for the Sixers was keeping the Nets' drive-and-kick game at bay. For much of the game, they did just that — and it went beyond generating takeaways. Brooklyn's three-point efficiency was outstanding but the volume of deep shots they got was not what they usually look for. In their prior two preseason games, the Nets took over 40 percent of their shots from deep. Philly held them to almost 25 percent for much of the game before a second-half surge.

4. Tobi wins 1-on-1 battle vs. Ben

The matchup between Harris and Simmons was a physical one, as both former teammates guarded one another. They each got the other here and there but overall, Harris had himself the superior showing.

Harris had a great statistical output, scoring 18 points on 7-17 shooting with nine rebounds, using his size advantage to get into the paint and hitting the deep shots that came his way. Not all of his buckets came against Simmons due to the Nets' switching on defense but the way he scored so efficiently was a pleasant sight for Philly.

Simmons kept the pace going for the Nets, finding his teammates for threes — including on this absolutely spectacular behind-the-back, on-the-cut dish — but kept resorting to one-handed shots that looked worse than the previous one. He had a fall-away shot that found the bottom of the net but, as Sixers fans know him for, he didn’t look comfortable looking to score unless he had the space to get into a sprint toward the cup. He was also responsible for eight turnovers.

Harris did his best to body him up each time down the floor. Simmons' best stretch came mostly when Harris was off the floor, though he did poke a ball loose from him in a crucial possession and was a driving force in the Nets' comeback attempts. No cigar tonight but there will be more chances for him to one-up his former team, though.

3. Showing some cohesion on offense

Maxey fueled a very hot start from the Sixers, as they made five of their first six shots. The offense often started with one of two sequences. Either the Sixers would load one side of the floor and have Maxey and Reed run a pick-and-roll away from it or Maxey would bring the ball up, give it up and get it back from Reed in a handoff going to the middle of the floor.

Reed got the game started with a short jumper and Maxey later settled into a middie of his own. The Sixers generated some great looks from deep out of the initial set but their shooting was frigid for much of the game. Despite this, the efficiency of their half-court offense was solid. Maxey played just the first half but showed confidence navigating through the teeth of the defense.

The Sixers also hunted any easy opportunity for points by running themselves. Takeaways on defense, using their quick hands to poke a ball free in passes and on drives, led to run-outs. Melton capped one off with a very sturdy dunk. In just the first 24 minutes of the game, Philly captured a whopping 18 takeaways.

Sometimes, though, the Sixers can fall too far into iso-ball. By far, their worst possessions were when someone kept the ball to themselves for 10+ seconds. Those are the types of possessions Embiid gets — and even those should be rare.

2. Melton flashes credentials for his nickname

Mr. Do Something did some things, alright. The Sixers guard showed up all over the stat sheet as he played strong defense and served as a splendid link for the offense in a multitude of ways. He ended the game with 15 points, 10 assists, eight boards and four steals.

The play that needed to be made never felt out of reach for Melton no matter where it was. He skied for a chase-down block and took numerous Brooklyn passes for himself. While there can be no grand takeaways from the preseason, it seems like Melton will hone in on Nurse's defensive principles and continue to shine in a defense that stresses flying around and playing aggressively to spark fast breaks.

The Sixers looked to get him straight-away triples and he buried a few of them. He threw down a very impressive slam on the fast break, levitating in the face of an oncoming defender and refusing to get denied. When Melton had to put the ball on the floor or make the extra swing pass, he did so with mostly no problems.

1. Oubre stays locked in on defense

Oubre got the start after Tucker was ruled out, giving him a great chance to fight for a spot in the rotation. His play style to this point in his career doesn’t indicate that he would be ready to play Nurse's style of ball. But in this preseason, he has started to shift his tendencies to fit it.

Defensively, Oubre continues to get after it. He got into the passing lane to create a fast break, though he failed to convert the bucket himself and Jaden Springer cleaned up the miss. On one drive where Oubre got beat, he stuck with it and blocked the attempt from behind. He slid over for an emphatic weakside block in the second quarter. He stayed ready to provide help at the nail. It's those little things on top of the supreme athleticism he has that will get him minutes.

Nurse spoke highly of Oubre's defensive tools and is now hoping he can put it all together and shine within the structure of team defense. Oubre shooting the lights out, like he did last time, is nice but it will be the defensive plays he makes that will really help him stand out from Philly's other wings. But, you know, a running, buzzer-beating triple doesn’t hurt.

The Sixers' preseason finale is this Friday in Philly against the Atlanta Hawks.